The first image of the French animated feature film „L’apprenti père Noël et le flocon magique„/ „The Magic Snowflake” directed by Luc Vinciguerra appeares on animationmagazine.eu. The trailer will be done by the end of april or may.

This is the sequel of a first movie called „Santa’s apprentice” released in 2010 , which was itself a sequel of a TV series.

Animated features is financed by Gaumont Distribution animation with 4 million euro.

„L’apprenti père Noël et le flocon magique„/ „The Magic Snowflake” will be released in France on November 20, 2013. For more details about this production, read the interview with Luc Vinciguerra on animationmagazine.eu.

„L’apprenti père Noël et le flocon magique” is the french title of a feature in animation. The international title is ” The magic snowflake”. This is the sequel of a first movie called ” Santa’s apprentice” released in 2010 , which was itself a sequel of a TV series. The movie talk about the story of a seven years old child named Nicolas who is the new Santa Claus. The plot of this story is ” The new santa is a seven years old boy. Will his first Christmas on the job be a success?”

What animation technique was used for „Apprenti Père Noël et le flocon magique”?

2d animation on paper. The clean up, inbetweens, paint and compositing are made with Harmony. We use a few CGI for some EFX, but the artistic goal is to give the feeling that everything is made with pencils.

The animation is for children?

Yes, this a feature for all the family, but our main audience are the children from 3 to 8. The ones who believe in Santa Claus.

When it will be released? In which countries will it be distributed?

It will be released in France November the 20th 2013. I don’t know yet in which others countries it will be released. The movie is not finished yet..so the sellers must wait still a few month before to show it.

Can you tell us about the backstage production „Apprenti Père Noël et le flocon magique”?

The first movie was a good success in France in 2010, so Gaumont, the distributor, asked us to think to a sequel rather quickly. We spent a year to write the script and the production began in mid 2011. We expect to deliver the movie in august 2013. All the creation and preproduction was made in France. The movie is animated in the Philippines and the compositing and all the post production will come back to France.

How much the production cost? From where did you obtain financing?

This is a short budget. Between 4 and 5 million euros. Rather 4… The financing comes from Gaumont Distribution- Gaumont animation-, in France. Snipple animation in Philippines and Dacapo productions in Canada + some French broadcasters: Orange cinema series , Canal + , TMC.

How many people worked on „Apprenti Père Noël et le flocon magique”?

Around 50 people in France until now…+ the ones who will work on the post production. And in the Philippines, more than 100 I guess.

What do you think about European animation”industry”?

Honestly I don’t have a general overview on the animation in Europe. But in France the situation is rather good for the features. Even if everything is very fragile . There are around 6 to 10 new animated movies per year, and some of them are very big success (this year Kirikou 3, Ernest et Celestine and Zarafa). 15 years ago there was nothing. In that times, I worked on TV series and I didn’t expect to be the director of a movie.

What would be the solution for the development of animation in Europe? We know that some European countries have reduced subsidy for animated productions

Animation doesn’t escape to the global crisis, and though I know that lots of producers in France dream to find bigger financing to fight with Us movies with the same weapons… By my side, I don’t complain about small budgets. The distributor is confident in my work i guess and I ‘m rather free to do the movie that I want. I think very big budget is a land of compromise that generate very commonplace things. And this would be a pity if Europe wanted to do the same movies than Hollywood. It would lose its soul. Hollywood makes brilliant movies but I like the diversity of style of European cinema. The possibility to offer something else to the audience.